Bunch of good points there. And again I'm not saying he doesn't make mistakes or shouldn't be criticized for some for some of his moves, but just that a lot of the things we criticize that he does on a regular basis are done on purpose. Like for example playing Anderson over Ross. If the goal is to win I'd play Anderson every game. Ross is the more dynamic player and does the things which catches our eye, but Anderson is the the guy who is going to make the right play, the higher percentage of the time. I think we both agree now that playoffs are out of the picture Ross will get more burn.

On the bright side Casey really seems like a student of the game. He strikes me as the type of guy that wants to get better at his craft and while our players get their homework on things to improve on during the off season, I beleive Casey to be the type of coach whom is modest enough to work on improving his coaching abilities as well. Whether that means attending certain camps or conferences for coaches or picking fellow coaches' minds on ways he himself can improve.

I'm not ready to throw him under the bus. Quite far from it actually.

I'm not throwing him under the bus...I'm just losing patience with him. If we expect our players to improve in order to succeed, I think it's only fair to expect the same from the coach. Casey's development seems to have stalled this year. I don't blame the defensive regression on him, as you even see how much better it can be now that JV is more up to speed...our starting unit of JV, Amir, Gay, Demar and Lowry has been very strong defensively.

Again, it's just aspects I mentioned earlier that I was really hoping would have shown improvement by now, mostly related to in-game management. I do think Casey is a solid enough NBA coach, but if he's going to stick around in the long term he's really gotta show much better coaching instincts at least from the start of next season.

*Also, I'm not absolving BC of any blame...Roster is still flawed. Getting Gay before losing Bargs makes it all the more difficult to make changes. This team is full of chuckers and nobody seems to move the ball...one of the guys who was picked up for that, Fields, can't get onto the court because of his broken jumper....it really is broken. I had to go back and watch highlights from his Stanford days. His jumper looked normal and decently smooth. Anyway, just to say I'd be much happier to see BC fired before I see Casey fired...I'm just not confident that'll happen.

I don't know about you guys, but I'd love Stan Van Gundy. Dude coached extremely well in Orlando, and somehow got Hedo to play like an all-star. He's a pretty straight-forward guy, I've always liked his style. Ain't no messin' around when he's running things

I don't know about you guys, but I'd love Stan Van Gundy. Dude coached extremely well in Orlando, and somehow got Hedo to play like an all-star. He's a pretty straight-forward guy, I've always liked his style. Ain't no messin' around when he's running things

I would love Stan Van Gundy. Definitely a great play designer and caller. I have a feeling he comes in and would become a fan favourite. We would definitely win more games.

Con: Very hard on his players and would make it even tougher to attract Free agents....

I don't know about you guys, but I'd love Stan Van Gundy. Dude coached extremely well in Orlando, and somehow got Hedo to play like an all-star. He's a pretty straight-forward guy, I've always liked his style. Ain't no messin' around when he's running things

van gundy will not coach in Toronto.. I watched an interview with him where he said it would be very hard for him to come back and coach and if he did, it would be all about family, he would refuse any job in a city with snow so his daughter can ride her horses or something lol.. he gave the impression he would only coach in florida or California.

I'm dead serious when i say this and you guys might think i'm crazy, but what if we had old Jay Triano pair with DC? One offensive minded guy and one defensive minded. From my recollection, we had some pretty good ball movement back in the JT days. I remember JT kept harping on this 'European style' of basketball where it's less iso and more touches to go around. Our guys are all pretty dynamic scorers and it would be nice to see how JT would run this team any differently than DC (aside from major defensive issues).

Solutions, IMO: Big needed. When shots arent falling for the guards and wings, you need a momentum stopper, a guy who plays back to the basket and slows the game down. On defense, same guy can use his body to block cutters, another thing that killed them last night.

He had that available to him last night. Both of them were nailed to the bench.

Ball movement doesn't matter too much in the starting lineup since we have Lowry, Gay and DeMar. But the bench on the other hand, oh boy. When your bench doesn't have ball movement your fucked, unless you have james harden as a sixth man

I agree that Casey isn't the coach you want once you become a legit playoff threat. We will probably need to get another coach to take us to that next level, but for now with a team trying to integrate two rookies into cruicial parts of the rotation, and trying to instill the basic building blocks of a winning program I think Casey is just fine.

I reserve my grudge for Colangelo. He's consistently managed to do just enough to get my hyped up for each new season, but never enough to make it a reality. Just like trading for Rudy Gay...I'm excited for what we can be next season though I fully realize that to truly take advantage of the Rudy Gay acquisition, one more big trade is cruicial. We need a starting calibre PF that can score in the low post, play some tough D and rebound. I'll keep hoping and hoping that it will happen, but to date, BC has not been able to get the job done.

I guess this is where we disagree... and that is cool. I am not trying to be confrontational.

I don't think Casey is really integrating rookies that well. JV deserves playing time in the crunch. TRoss is certainly inconsistent but Inconsistency is AIA's middle name. Acy plays balls out yet others play with their nuts neatly tucked.

Casey is rolling with his veterans and looking to win every game:

So if you’re looking for 30 minutes a night for Terrence Ross or 40 minutes a night for Jonas Valanciunas or 15 minutes a night for Quincy Acy, you’re not going to get it yet.

Please don’t whine, it’s not your decision and until you get Dwane’s job, there’s nothing you can do about it.

For me, that just puts another nail in the coffin. He is actually saying:

Ross hasn’t had more than three field goals — nor has he played more than 14 minutes — in a game this month and was just 9-33 from the field (4-for-14 from three-point range) going into Wednesday. And his propensity for momentary defensive lapses, often caused by his inexperience, make it hard for Casey to run him out for extended periods.

“If we need shooting, if his shot is going, we may have to give him a look, but right now it’s about matchups, it’s about productivity, it’s about experience of being in those situations. If he comes in and has it going, he’ll be in there but if not, we have to go with Alan or Landry.”

The problem is the double standard and effects of not letting a rookie play through mistakes. AA and Fields are hardly without their mistakes and inconsistencies.

“We can’t play our starters 48, I wish we could,” said coach Dwane Casey. “The guys coming off the bench have to be ready to play, have to be ready to rotate, do all the little things we didn’t do in the second quarter.”

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“Our bench has to step up with the type of intensity it takes in these types of games,” said Casey. “That (Cleveland) team over there is playing as hard as anybody we’ve played this year. (Dion) Waiters is a handful but we built a solid lead with our first unit and we have to uphold that. We got eight points off our bench versus their 39, and that can’t hold up.”

I am not disagreeing with anything DC has said here but clearly he realizes the issue. Wouldn't it seem in the teams best interests to shorten the bench? Why play 10/11 guys? Why have 4 starters out at one time? Why have AB and LF at the 5 and 4.... Jesus Mercy I can't believe I typed that let alone watched him do it.

Your bold in the 2nd paragraph is spot on. One big move is needed. The problem I see is that when that big move comes in, you now have a coach who has shown his game decisions are not stellar nor his X's and O's. If that big move is made this summer, I think you need to bring in a new coach. Rightly or wrongly, the Gay trade has shifted the course of this franchise. Most people - myself included - think Casey is a great person and a good motivator/teacher for a young, rebuilding team but that description after this season does not describe the Raptors or the expectations for the team moving forward.

Ball movement doesn't matter too much in the starting lineup since we have Lowry, Gay and DeMar. But the bench on the other hand, oh boy. When your bench doesn't have ball movement your fucked, unless you have james harden as a sixth man

What troubled me in both losses was just how bad the 2nd unit works. AA and JL3 in the long run is shooting themselves out of this team. I'm not mentioning the elephant in the room here because I'm sick of you know who. I would love to see more of Telfair to be honest. JL3 jacks up shots that makes anyone nervous. Personally, I really don't know what Casey's gameplan is. I just want to see more of JV (especially crunch time).

ďThe saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.Ē - Martin Luther King

I guess this is where we disagree... and that is cool. I am not trying to be confrontational.

I don't think Casey is really integrating rookies that well. JV deserves playing time in the crunch. TRoss is certainly inconsistent but Inconsistency is AIA's middle name. Acy plays balls out yet others play with their nuts neatly tucked.

Casey is rolling with his veterans and looking to win every game:

For me, that just puts another nail in the coffin. He is actually saying:

The problem is the double standard and effects of not letting a rookie play through mistakes. AA and Fields are hardly without their mistakes and inconsistencies.

I am not disagreeing with anything DC has said here but clearly he realizes the issue. Wouldn't it seem in the teams best interests to shorten the bench? Why play 10/11 guys? Why have 4 starters out at one time? Why have AB and LF at the 5 and 4.... Jesus Mercy I can't believe I typed that let alone watched him do it.

Your bold in the 2nd paragraph is spot on. One big move is needed. The problem I see is that when that big move comes in, you now have a coach who has shown his game decisions are not stellar nor his X's and O's. If that big move is made this summer, I think you need to bring in a new coach. Rightly or wrongly, the Gay trade has shifted the course of this franchise. Most people - myself included - think Casey is a great person and a good motivator/teacher for a young, rebuilding team but that description after this season does not describe the Raptors or the expectations for the team moving forward.

I agree, I clearly don't understand where he sees the need to fill out the entire bench in a majority of a quarter. The starters are the guys who start the game, usually finish the game, and carry the game. Bench is to lift or give rest to those guys.

I just don't understand what the heck is up with Casey's rotations. It's honestly weird. I have no other word for it, it's extremely frustrating watching John Lucas III try to run an offense, or Anderson try to create shots for himself.

Does he even think about match-ups? Players' strengths to cover up one's weaknesses? Goodness, like you mentioned, Landry at the 4, and Bargnani at the 5 is MIND-BOBBLING!

I agree, I clearly don't understand where he sees the need to fill out the entire bench in a majority of a quarter. The starters are the guys who start the game, usually finish the game, and carry the game. Bench is to lift or give rest to those guys.

I just don't understand what the heck is up with Casey's rotations. It's honestly weird. I have no other word for it, it's extremely frustrating watching John Lucas III try to run an offense, or Anderson try to create shots for himself.

Does he even think about match-ups? Players' strengths to cover up one's weaknesses? Goodness, like you mentioned, Landry at the 4, and Bargnani at the 5 is MIND-BOBBLING!

I'm a fan of "flabbergasting" myself...don't ever get to use that word, but Casey's rotations are completely flabbergasting...

The Raptors - like it or not - with the Gay trade are no longer building.... or even rebuilding. Games matters, wins count.

Casey appears to be a good motivator (up until lately) and a good teacher but I am questioning if he is the right choice for a team with the primary focus of winning.

I think that's where the problem lies. This team isn't exactly built to be a competitive team in the playoffs, as of now, they're good enough to barely sneak into the 8th seed, and even that goal this season is unlikely.
Playing the veterans a significant amount of minutes is hurting this team, it still has to be a building process in developing the younger guys, veterans are better suited in those situationals and practice...

I think that's where the problem lies. This team isn't exactly built to be a competitive team in the playoffs, as of now, they're good enough to barely sneak into the 8th seed, and even that goal this season is unlikely. Playing the veterans a significant amount of minutes is hurting this team, it still has to be a building process in developing the younger guys, veterans are better suited in those situationals and practice...

I disagree. Even despite the flaws in coaching, substitutions/lineups, and the Bargnani factor, I think starting back in October if the current team was togehter, they'd be a playoff team - quite possibly 4th or 5th seed and maybe even battling BKN and NY for the Atlantic title.

This team started 4-19. Since then they are 19-15 and, based on win %, would be in the running for 5th or 6th.

On 2 occasions this year, the Raptors had an opportunity to put themselves seriously in the playoff picture. The first time - prior to the Gay trade - they gave up a 20pt lead to MIL, followed by a pair of tough losses to BKN and an OT loss to Chicago, and then played Philly where they would pull within 2 games of 8th with a win despite 3 prior losses and they blow a 20 point lead in the 2nd half. The second time was this week vs. WSH and CLE.

I definitely agree with the bold. Ross can do what AA is doing. He has shown the ability to get hot - just like AA. The difference is AA is 30 and TR is a 21 year old rookie. The only rationale I can see is if Casey is thinking like the US Marines where they tear you down to build you up.... and even that is pretty far fetched. When it comes to JV, he is already better than Gray and Bargnani. When it comes to Acy, he has shown a tremendous amount of energy and hustle that has led to good things in a small sample size. I'd rather put a guy out there who busts his nuts than a guy running around and cupping his nuts (yes, that was a Bargnani dig).

So back to the original point: the Raptors - like it or not - with the Gay trade are no longer building.... or even rebuilding. Games matters, wins count. If they are going to become more than a first round playoff warm up they need to make some changes that are not going to be easy.

I disagree. Even despite the flaws in coaching, substitutions/lineups, and the Bargnani factor, I think starting back in October if the current team was togehter, they'd be a playoff team - quite possibly 4th or 5th seed and maybe even battling BKN and NY for the Atlantic title.